Theme: 🦠

Introduction

Celtic, Greek, and Latin each have words for "island" that involve /n/ and /s/ and cannot be completely explained. One possibility is that they are all borrowings from the same non-Indo-European source.

Even if those three are all connected, it would still be beyond credibility for Malayo-Polynesian *nusa: "island" to be related. ... Right?

Teaser

Indonesia, isle, isolate, insulate, peninsula

Full Text

• Unknown substrate *?n?s?

  • Celtic *enistī island ^[1]

    • Brythonic *ɨnɨs island

      • Welsh ynys island
    • Old Irish inis

      • Irish inis island

        • Irish leithinis peninsula "semi-island"
  • Ancient Greek νῆσος nêsos island ^[2]

    • Greek νησί nisí island
    • Ancient Greek χερσόνησος khersónēsos peninsula "dry land island"
    • Ancient Greek Πελοπόννησος Pelopónnēsos Peloponnese "island of Pelops"

      • English Peloponnese
    • Coptic ⲛⲏⲥⲟⲥ nēsos island
    • English -nesia

      • English Indonesia
      • English Melanesia
      • English Micronesia
      • English Polynesia
  • Latin īnsula island, tenement, apartment building ^[3]

    • Sardinian isula island
    • Western Romance

      • Old French isle island

        • French île island

          • Haitian Creole zile
        • English isle ^[4]
      • Italian isola island
      • Spanish isla island
    • Albanian ishull island
    • Middle High German

      • German Insel island

        • German inselbegabt savant lit. "island-gifted", i.e. "isolated gift"
        • German Inselaffe British person (derogatory): (lit.
      • Yiddish אינדזל indzl island
    • Latin īnsulāris like an island, like things on an island

      • English insular
    • Latin īnsulō I make into an island

      • Western Romance

        • Italian isolare to isolate, to confine, to insulate, to soundproof
        • Spanish *islar

          • Spanish aislar to isolate, to separate, to quarantine "to at-island"

            • Spanish aislarse to self isolate reflexive form
      • Latin īnsulātus made into an island

        • Western Romance

          • Italian isolato isolated, cut off, lonely, insulated

            • English isolated

              • English isolate
            • French isolé

              • French isoler to isolate, to insulate
              • French isolation isolation, insulation

                • English isolation
        • English insulate

          • English insulation
    • Latin paenīnsula peninsula "almost-island"

      • English peninsula

Visual

Collected English words

Peloponnese, -nesia, Indonesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, isle, insular, isolated, isolate, isolation, insulate, insulation, peninsula

Footnotes

1. ^

   Matasovic tentatively suggests Celtic *enistī could be derived from *(h₁)eni-sth₂-ih₂: "that which stands in (the water)".

2. ^

   Other possible origins for Ancient Greek νῆσος nêsos include νήχω: "I swim" (PIE *(s)neh₂- : "to flow, to swim") or from *néh₂s: "nose", similar to Germanic *nasją: "headland, promontory" from "nose".

3. ^

   For Latin īnsula: "island", Pokorny suggested "(terra) in salō": "(land) in the salty". de Vaan also considers *en-sol-h₂: "the ground in??", but he is not happy with either his idea or Pokorny's.

4. ^

   isle from Anglo-Norman is the source of the imaginary 's' in island. island is not actually related, being from Old English īeġland, from Germanic *awjōlandą, see the aqua family. But someone thought it was at some point, and added the 's' from isle into island.